Amendments to the Content of Bills / Report Stage

Committee evidence not printed

Debates pp. 4630-1

Background

On June 12, 1984, Mr. Lambert (Edmonton West) rose on a point of order during the report stage debate on Bill C‑9, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. Mr. Lambert stated that the printed record of the committee's evidence was not yet available to Members and that debate at report stage should not proceed. The Acting Speaker (Mr. Herbert) took Mr. Lambert's remarks under advisement promising to have the matter investigated while debate continued. On June 13, 1984, the House resumed consideration of Bill C-9 at report stage. The Speaker indicated that he was prepared to hear the comments of various Members on Mr. Lambert's point of order before ruling.

Issue

Can the House proceed with debate at the report stage of a bill when committee evidence is available only as a verbatim transcript and not in its usual printed form?

Decision

Yes. Debate can proceed.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The verbatim record of the committee's proceedings was available to Members in both official languages through the Clerk of Committees and the Journals Branch in sufficient time. The printed issues were distributed to Members' offices on the evening of June 12. The Standing Orders do not specify what form such publications should take and therefore the verbatim transcript is deemed to have met the requirements. The decision of the Chair is consistent with the decision of Speaker MacNaughton in 1965 when the Speaker stated that "...there is no case that says that a bill in the House of Commons which is up for discussion cannot be proceeded with until the evidence has been filed."

Sources cited

Debates, March 17, 1965, pp. 12479-80.

References

Debates, March 17, 1965, pp. 12478-82; June 12, 1984, pp. 4591-4600; June 13, 1984, pp. 4626-30.